I'll be trying to catch up with folks' postings from the past week or so, but I might not be able to catch everything. I'm giving priority to current entries, else I can easily see myself spending a week catching up on the past ten days, and then.. ^_^; But in order to avoid a megapost, I'll keep the size of each forthcoming entry over the next week or so down to a slightly more modest level. Believe me, this is brief by comparison. ^_^;

Now this is a fun little short.. Badgered (7min, 20MB), telling the tale of a badger who really just wants to be able to sleep peacefully. But others have different ideas..

There was a Gong Show movie? ^_^; Okay, this I'll have to catch. And Дни Затменя ("The Days of Eclipse") looks most promising indeed.. "Loosely based on a great science-fiction novel Billion Years Before the End of the World by renowned authors Boris and Andrei Strugatsky, it one of my favorite films. It is hard to say what is more striking in this film - cinematography or the ideas it is about."

On which note, I noticed there's going to be another Star Trek movie, focusing on the early days of Kirk and Spock at the academy. It'll be produced and directed by J J Abrams, the creator of Lost, for a 2008 release.

Someday, the US will recognise same-sex marriages from other countries - but that day now seems even further away than ten years ago. maus_merryjest designed this poster to highlight the tragedy.

Who's been to EuroFurence or Feral? I might be lured into something like that, rather than the usual generic hotel setting. Although I might have to sort out satellite net.connectivity first - I'd be gnawing on the trees by the end of the con otherwise, and that wouldn't do anyone any good.

ffmpegX 0.0.9w is now out. Main difference is Intel support, alongside "further optimisations" for PPC, and the addition of FLV (Flash video) as an output format.

Any mechanically-minded folks feel like checking out this engine design? The claims are fairly extraordinary, but it looks like it's not merely vaporware. "The prototype has a 14 inch diameter and is 14 inches long. It weighs 150lbs. There are only 26 moving parts, 31 parts total. The first prototype uses diesel or biodiesel for fuel. Through two revolutions of its crankshaft, the ME firing cycle is equivalent to a 32 cylinder reciprocating engine, that is, it fires 32 times. As a result, its displacement is equivalent to an 848 cubic inch [13.9 liter] reciprocating engine, despite its compactness."

And here's a new electric delivery van, able to carry two tonnes at 50mph for about 100 miles on one charge.

Woohoo! OmniWeb 5.5 sneakypeeks are in public beta. ^_^ Visit their forum to register and find out more. If you're already using OW, you'll find this version much faster - but it is still a beta, and they don't want people forgetting that, with a 15-day expiry period and a yellow/black tint to the window title bar. As it's now in sync with WebKit, it renders as accurately (or moreso) as the current Safari. (And yes, it passes the Acid2 test perfectly =:)

Oh, and if you find the warning-style title bar distracting, just enter this in the shell of your choice:

And elsewhere on the software front, I noticed BinaerVarianz' latest version of KisMAC now supports Airport Extreme cards - apparently the Broadcom Airforce BCM4306 chipset - in passive mode, not just active, though it looks like that's only properly functional for PPC systems right now. As before, if you switch to passive mode, be sure to end the scan before quitting or changing modes, else you're liable to have to restart in order to get the normal driver back in operation.

New Have I Got News For You! Happy bunny. Happy bunny with a suitable client to fetch said wonder of television. ^_^ And if you'd like a taste of the sharp nature of British political humor, I've made up a pocket-sized version here (25MB).

- "Latex paint, despite being thick and creamy, does not coat your stomach and provide the same relief as pepto bismol."

- "18 year old kids absolutely need new Audis-- especially the kind with the DVD player built into the dashboard so that they can watch "the fast and the furious" while driving along a windy road at say, 3am. the best thing to say (if you are an 18 year old driver of such a car) is "hey, watch my car handle this turn" as you careen into a tree. (unrestrained driver had not one but TWO spiral femur fractures in the same leg. his foot was pointed backwards). tree survived with minor scratches."

- "When attempting a self-circumcision do not use dry ice to numb the area... and when the dry ice sticks to the... a.... area, do not attempt to remove the ice with boiling water."

Naw, far as mine and Kei's rats go, they only boggle when they're bruxxing (grinding their teeth) :) As if they're so happy that their eyes might just pop out...it can be kinda freaky looking but they're definitely happy furkids!

I have had my latest lad make that 'fuff' noise at me if I make him jump though; he's pink-eyed and his sight's not so good.